EVolution

Electric vehicles currently make up around 1% of new sales in the global automotive market. About half of that one percent resides in China. But experts project that number to rise to somewhere around 50% by mid-century. That’s roughly a percentage point every year and a half until 2050. Admittedly, predictions are all over the place and changing all the time…but some are very aggressive. Although you can picture Americans never giving in, countries like Norway have already pledged to ban the sale of gas or diesel fueled cars by 2025. That’s in eight years. The burgeoning sector flies banners of efficiency, environmental friendliness, and affordability across its marquee. It has an equally ambitious running mate in lithium-ion batteries and their associated charging stations. It’s also not limited to cars—trucks, airplanes, and buses are fast conforming as well:

So, one thing seems clear: EVs are the next big thing. Here are a few examples—from the past month alone—that support the theory, as well as some general headlines within the EV market.

Nidec enters EV market. Nidec Corp., the Kyoto, Japan-based conglomerate with motor headquarters in St. Louis, will invest 200 million euros ($237 million) in a joint venture with Peugeot maker PSA Group to develop and produce electric car motors for a fast expanding market, the companies said Monday. Patrice Lucas, PSA’s executive vice president for strategy, said in a presentation the France-based venture would have a production capacity of 900,000 motors per year from 2022. The electric motors developed with Nidec will supply all Opel and Vauxhall models, Lucas said. Nidec will act via Nidec Leroy-Somer, the French electric motor company it acquired in February this year. The aim of the joint venture is to make high-performance “electric traction motors” for PSA Group and potentially other carmakers, the companies said. Nidec manufactures motors for products ranging from hard disk drives to elevators and automobiles, and owns the U.S. Motors brand.

Lamborghini, MIT working on self-repairing ‘Supercar’? The future is now…or at least, processing. Lamborghini and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have a project in the worksthat might freak some people out—a car that can repair itself. Bloomberg first reported on the project, writing that “the next generation of Lamborghinis could act as their own superpowered batteries and be able to repair themselves.” The Terzo Millennio (“third millennium”) concept car debuted at the EmTech conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts November 6. The vehicle is the product of the first 12 months of a three-year partnership between the carmaker and MIT. It will reportedly be able to not only run on its own regenerative battery power, but ‘monitor and heal itself’ through self-diagnostic features. Mechanics everywhere must be in uproar.

Diagram of Siemens/Rolls-Royce Airbus is out: Let’s call it your daily diagram. E-Fan X (below) is a hybrid-electric flight demonstrator aircraft being developed by Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens.

E-Fan X is a hybrid-electric flight demonstrator aircraft being developed by Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens.—Airbus image

Here’s supplementary reading for background on the current EV market, from IEEE: